Water-methanol mixture under confinement

Autor: Bellido Peralta, Roger
Přispěvatelé: Franzese, Giancarlo
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Dipòsit Digital de la UB
Universidad de Barcelona
Popis: Treballs Finals de Màster en Física dels Sistemes Complexos i Biofísica, Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona. Curs: 2021-2022. Tutor: Giancarlo Franzese
Water pollution and renewable energy sources are a matter of broad concern, both environmental challenges for our society. For its applications in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, production of synthetic fibers and plastic, and as a fuel additive, methanol attracts interest for how to model its properties when mixed with water. Here, we consider a minimalistic model for a water-methanol mixture confined between two parallel graphene nanosheets and analyze the diffusion coefficient of each component as the slit-pore’s width δ increases. We find that layering in the hydrophobic pore induces segregation between the two components. The methanol apolar moiety accumulates near the pore walls, while water populates more in the central layer away from the hydrophobic walls. Furthermore, both liquids have a diffusion coefficient that changes non-monotonically with δ, with water always diffusing faster than methanol. Changes in the pore widths affect the two mixture components in different amounts, suggesting the possibility of an efficient method for methanol-water separation based on a physical procedure.
Databáze: OpenAIRE